PETER’S PINOY PATTER — FEB. 2016

Bridge Generation News

l-r:  WWII, First Filipino Regiment, Philippine Liberation 1945/Korean War, tail gunner on B-29 Superfortress 1951/Grand Reunion, with Wilma 1997/wearing MyBarong, Sacramento  2013)

Surrounded by his loving family, family patriarch Alex Aguinid celebrated his 90th birthday in Sacramento on February 6.  The eldest of twelve children, he was born in 1926 in Stockton.  As a boy during the Great Depression, Alex’s family followed the crops throughout California — not unusual for Filipino families of that time.  When he was thirteen he worked as a janitor at his Salinas grammar school for $2 a month. Quiet and unassuming, Alex distinguished himself as a decorated veteran — seeing action in two wars.  In World War II, he served as a combat infantryman with the U.S. Army’s First Filipino Regiment during the bloody Philippine Liberation in 1945.  In the Battle of Manila alone over 100,000 Filipino men, women, and children perished; the city was reduced to rubble.   Soon after the onset of the Korean War in 1950, Alex enlisted in the Air Force where he served as a tail gunner on a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber that dodged anti-aircraft fire and enemy fighter planes on missions over North Korea.  As a civilian, he worked as an aircraft armament servicer at McClellan AFB until his retirement in 1981.  Alex and his devoted wife of 61 years, Wilma (Bucariza) Aguinid, are the proud parents of two children — Conde Hirotani and Marcus Aguinid.  Thank you, Alex, for inspiring me to share your life with my readers.  To a proud member of the Greatest Generation and the Bridge Generation, Happy 90th Birthday for a life well lived!………….. Ethnic Studies programs may now be commonplace in today’s colleges and universities, but did you know that Bridge Generation Filipino Americans played a significant role in getting them started?  At the University of Washington on July 1969, Tony Ogilvie led the Asian Coalition for Equality (ACE) in protesting the lack of Asian specific programming.  The protest proved to be an unqualified success.  An Asian component was soon created within the Educational Opportunity Program.  Then, the Ethnic Cultural Center was established with a pinoy, Roy Flores, as its first director.  These victories were followed by the appointments of Filipino American faculty members in Ethnic Studies, the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, and the School of Social Work…………  However, it was the next generation of Filipino Americans — the Baby Boomers — who were most responsible for the establishment of Asian/Filipino ethnic studies programs in the country’s universities and colleges.  A year earlier in 1968, a multi-ethnic protest at San Francisco State University that included a Filipino American student organization — the Philippine American Collegiate Endeavor (PACE) —  drew nationwide attention as it refused to bow to pressure from Governor Ronald Reagan and SFSU President S.I. Hayakawa to halt the strike.  PACE joined the Black Student Union (BSU) and other minority campus organizations during five months of contentious demonstrations.  Among the PACE leaders were Patrick Salaver, Ron Quidichay, Robert Ilumin, Ed Ilumin, and Alex Soria.  Their participation in the protests ultimately led to the establishment of the College of Ethnic Studies and faculty appointments for Filipino Americans Dan Gonzales and Dan Begonia. Interesting sidelights — among the protesters were movie actor Danny Glover, then a BSU member, and PACE member Ron Quidichay who currently serves as a Superior Court Judge in San Francisco………. Speaking of student protests, February 11-12 in Los Angeles marked the premiere of  the documentary Agents of Change.  The  documentary highlights the fight for ethnic studies in the 1960s with focus on San Francisco State University and Cornell University.  Demographer and author Juanita Tamayo Lott is featured in the SFSU segment……….. Congratulations to Pastor Engkabo of Sacramento on the birth of his 22nd great grandchild, Dalyilah Josephine Contreras, in January.  I’m envious — I only have one great grandchild. Pastor also has fifteen  grandchildren, which ties me with him — but who’s counting………….. Happy February Birthdays to: Bob Flor, Lillian Galedo, Rosalie Marquez, Joyce (Tibon) Balandra………….. After all these years it was great to visit with Violet (Reyes) Andrade of Fremont CA on December 27 at Nina (Dublin) Gonzalez’ surprise 75th birthday party in Modesto CA.  Violet and her late husband Dec Andrade were fierce but fun competitors in partner pinochle card games against my late wife, Terri, and me during the 1960s……….. RIP: Rosaline (Lomboy) Dickinson, 82, of Stockton on January 2 and Sam Behic, 81, on January 5 in San Jose.

Pinakbet: News Across The Country   

Filipino winners on the January 11 Golden Globes Awards at the Beverley Hilton in Los Angeles: “Inside Out”, the Pixar animation film co-directed by Ronnie del Carmen won for Best Animated Feature. “I feel so honored,” said Del Carmen, who watched the 73rd Golden Globe Awards night from his northern California residence with his family.  Congratulations also to creator, writer, producer and comedienne Rachel Bloom for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Comedy or Musical, for her show “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.” The show’s November 16th episode, “My Thanksgiving With Josh” made television history when the fictional family of Josh Chan (Vincent Rodriguez III) was introduced together with pinoy/pinay actors Amy Hill, Tess Paras, Alberto Issacs and Coryn Mabalot.  It was the first time a Filipino American family was featured on national TV………….. A tale of two Filipina American poets: The prolific Barbara Jane Reyes read from her new book  To Love as Aswang on January 11 at City Lights Book Store in San Francisco. Her latest collection of poetry focuses on “what it means to live as a Pinay in a world that has silenced, dehumanized, and broken the Pinay body.”  And before a distinguished meeting of world leaders, University of California Berkeley graduate student Isabella Borgeson recited her poem “Yolanda Winds” at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in early December.  Her entry was inspired by Typhoon Yolanda that devastated the central Philippines late in 2013………….. Thanks to impresario Carlos Zialcita the weekly Happy Hour admission-free concerts on Thursdays from 5-7 pm at the I-Hotel Manilatown Center  in San Francisco continues to be popular with jazz fans………….  Matteson Wright, UC San Diego student and grandson of Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) Central Valley chapter member Ray Costelo, was selected to the National Society of Leadership and Success, Sigma Alpha Pi — the largest collegiate leadership honor society in the U.S…………… According to Conference Coordinator Kevin Nadal, the FANHS National Conference (www.fanhs2016.com) scheduled for June 22-25 in New York City is coming together nicely.  In addition to the usual workshops, the following offerings are planned: a Filipino American Film Festival,  produced by Emmy Award winner Marissa Aroy; a FANHS Fashion Show featuring pinoy/pinay NYC designers; a gala banquet aboard the Hudson River boat “Hornblower Infinity”;an author’s panel featuring NY Times bestseller author Mia Alvar; a special bus tour of the Big Apple; Menchu Sanchez RN, President Obama’s honoree for her efforts during Hurricane Sandy; and speakers — the Honorable Lorna Schofield, the first Filipino American federal judge in the U.S., Jose Antonio Vargas, Pulitzer Prize winner and immigration activist, model and transgender advocate Geena Rocero, and Joe Bataan, the “King of Latin Soul” who also is expected to perform.  Invited but yet to confirm is Lea Salonga, the star of the long running Broadway show “Miss Saigon” who appeared in the musical “Allegiance” which just ended its Broadway run on Valentine’s Day…………  The FANHS Stockton/Delta chapter takes a unique approach in decorating its Christmas trees for the Annual  Festival of the Trees at the San Joaquin County Historical Museum in Lodi CA. For the past ten years, members have decorated its chapter tree with links to Filipino American history.  Some examples: an all-asparagus decor, a suitcase of historical photos with Santa Claus wearing tsinelas (slippers), a display of the Delano farm workers strike, and an exhibit of books written by pinay/pinoy authors. Kudos to decorators Mel LaGasca, Beverly Engkabo, Mary Louise Lopez, Terri Torres, and Violet Dutra. Thanks also to Minerva Amistoso for writing the story in the chapter’s newsletter…………. The stage adaptation of “Dogeaters”, the award winning 1990 novel by Jessica Hagedorn, is enjoying a February 3-28 run at the Magic Theater, Fort Mason Center, in San Francisco…………. Filipinos were well represented at Super Bowl 50 on February 8.  Suiting up for the Denver Broncos was wide receiver Jordan Norwood whose mother is mestiza.  (Jordan set a new SB record as he ran back a punt for 61 yards.)  Carolina Panther head coach Ron Rivera‘s grandfather, a Salinas CA farm worker, was a Filipino immigrant while Rivera’s wife, Stephanie Rivera is pinay.  Ron is not the only coach in the family; Stephanie is the former assistant coach of the Washington Mystic’s of the Woman’s National Basketball Association………..  Answers to Filipino American History Trivia:  (1) Name the UCLA Bruin basketball guard who went on to play for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association? Answer – Raymond Townsend; (2) Who wrote Makibaka: The Pilipino American Struggle? Answer – Royal Morales; (3) Name the first national president of FANHS: Answer – Fred Cordova.